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Colossians 3:12-13 (New Living Translation)
12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
Shortly after I was saved I got a job at a church working in the maintenance department. I loved coming to work early and sitting in the sanctuary before my shift started because there was still a residue of the presence of God in the place. On one of those days I had a sense in my heart that I should get up and leave but I disregarded it because I thought what bad thing could happen to you while sitting in the house of God…right? A few minutes later a person who was a long time member of the church and related to the Pastor walked by me and I could tell by the expression on their face that I had made a big time mistake, they looked at me, smiled and said hello. Sure enough a few days later I heard that that person went and told a bunch of people that I was a slacker who was sitting around in the sanctuary when I should be working.
Later some other people in the church said some unkind things about me and my fellow believers felt it was their duty to deliver these poisonous words to me personally with dramatic detail. Over time I began notice “things” about other people and soon I began to give major time in my thought life meditating on the flaws of others, real and imagined. One day while walking down the hall of church this thought crossed my mind, “Lord I love you but these people are crazy”. From that moment on I put up a wall of protection between me and them, I wasn’t going to let anyone hurt me again.
Now fast forward about a year or so and I’m in my first year of Bible school sitting in Old Testament Survey and it just hit me. Even though I prayed everyday, at least one hour and never missed a day of reading my Bible at least one hour a day, I was in a horrible, backslidden state. You see when I had put up a wall against “them” I had really put up a wall against Him. That morning thanks to the mercy of God I came to realize that my heart was contaminated with offence and bitterness. That morning I repented of my sin and afterwards slowly the Holy Spirit was able to restore my joy of salvation back unto me.
2 Timothy 2:24-26 (New Living Translation)
24 A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. 25 Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. 26 Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.
The very moment I choose to enter into strife either in my words or thought life, I placed myself into a trap set by Satan himself. You see I can’t love you and at the same time think and speak evil about you.
James 4:11-12 (Amplified Bible)
11[My] brethren, do not speak evil about or accuse one another. He that maligns a brother or judges his brother is maligning and criticizing the Law and judging the Law. But if you judge the Law, you are not a practicer of the Law but a censor and judge [of it].
12One only is the Lawgiver and Judge Who is able to save and to destroy [the One Who has the absolute power of life and death]. [But you] who are you that [you presume to] pass judgment on your neighbor?
Once I have judged you I have disabled and disqualified myself as someone that God can use to help you. Once I develop the habit of commenting on sin instead of helping to pull people out of it, I will slowly become more and more like Satan who loves to render negatives judgments on people and slander them.
So the question is…is it my job to correct you? What if I see you doing wrong, what should I do?
Galatians 6:1-3 (New Living Translation)
1 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. 2 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. 3 If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.
I was watching Christian television a few years ago when I saw some very famous ministers talking about a situation when they believed they where led by the Spirit of God to talk to a fellow minister about some error that they had noticed in his ministry. The first thing I noticed was their humility, that they talked about how they had prayed before seeing him and approached the brother in a non-hostile manner. Next I noticed that their reputation had preceded them, that their life and ministry had qualified them to speak into this other person’s life.
The brother who they had confronted was on the show with them and shared how he had gotten into error in his ministry and started doing things that God had not told him to do. The Spirit of God and the love of God motivated their actions. They saw their brother in sin and love moved them to pray, while in prayer they received further instructions to act. Their godly lifestyle qualified them to be a instrument through which the Lord Jesus could correct this man of God.
Everyone needs help, everyone needs to be held accountable for their actions. But are you the one God has ordained to do it?
Mark 3:24-25 (New Living Translation)
24 “A kingdom divided by civil war will collapse. 25 Similarly, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart.
The Devil (remember him?) absolutely loves it when we fight…it provides him with endless amusement and hinders the plan of God.
My hope is that we would judge each other less and pray for each other more.
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